Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-09-23
How TO TREAT COMPANY.
Discourse by the Rev. DR.. Talmage at
the Hamptons.

the Hamptons.
Ihe Trials and Rewards of Christian Hos
pitality-1he Toll and Expense of Exer-
cising It-A Pretty Custom Among the
Greeks.
The HAa1pToNs, Sept. 1.-THE Rev.
u. i. De Witt Talmages text to-day was
from Romans xii, 10: "Given to hospital
ity;" and his discourse was as follows:
There is danger that the multiplication
OF large and commodious hotels in our
towns and cities and villages will utterly
eXterminate that grace which Abraham ex-
hiblted when he entertained the angels, and
winch Lot showed when he watched for
guests at the gate of the city, and which
Christ recognized MS n positive requisite
for entering Heaven when He declared:
IL was Il stranger and ye took me in.
propose to speak this morning of the
trials and rewards of Christian hospitality.
The first trial often comes in the whim and
eccentricity of the guest himself. There
are great many excellent people who have
protuberances of disposition and sharp
edges of temperament, and unpliability of
character, which make them positive
nuisance in any house where they stay. On
VuhAAAAASO SAON WAAA DCSlA W WILL
mand the household affairs, order the en-
ployes TO unusual services, keep unseason.
able hours, use narcotics in places offensive
to sensitive nostrils, put their feet ct I'M
usual elevations, drop the ashes of their
Havana on costly tapestry, open bureaus
they ought never to touch, and pry into
things they ought never to see, and become
impertious to rousing bells, and have all
the peclliarities of the gormandizer or the
dyspepic, and make excavations from poor
dentistry with unusual impliments, and in
thousand ways afflict the household which
proposes to take care Of them. Added to
all, they stay too long. They have no idea
when their welcome is worn out, and they
would be unmoved even by the blessing
which my friend Gerrit Smith, the philan-
thropist, asked one morning at his break.
fast table, on the day when he hoped that
the long protracted guests would depart,
saying: 20 Lord, bless this provision and
our friends who leave us to-day!" But, my
friends, there are alleviations to be put on
their side of the scale. Perhaps they have
not had the same refining influences about
them in early life that you have had. Per-
haps they have inherited eccentricities that
they cannot help. Perhaps it is your duty,
by example, to show them better way.
Perhaps they are sent to be trial for the
development of your patience. Perhaps
they were to be intended as an illustration
of the opposite of what you are trying to
inculcate in the minds of your children.
Perhaps it is to make your home the
brighter when they are gone. When our
guests are CHEEKY and fascinating and ele-
CANT it is very easy to entertain them; but
when we find in our guests that which is
antagonistic to our taste and sentiment, it
10 n rOaifivo fri,,norh vvhor VIC con nhav the
words of my text, and be "given to hos
pitality."
Another trial in the using of this grace
is in the toll and expense of exercising it.
In the well-regulated household things go
smoothly, but now you have introduced o
foreign element into the machinery, and
though you may stoutly declare that they
must take things as they find them, the
Martha will break in. The ungovernable
stove; the ruined dessert; the joint that
proves to be unmasticable; the delayed
marketing; the perplexities of a caterer; the
difficulty of doing proper work, and yet
always being presentable. Though you
may say there shall be no care or anxiety,
there will be care and there will be anxiety.
In 1894 the captain general provided very
things he had fountain in his garden-a
fountain of strong drink. In it were four
hogsheads Of brandy, eight hogsheads Of
water, $4,000 lemons, thirteen hundred
weight of Lisbon sugar, five pounds of
grated nutmeg, 300 toasted biscuit, and a
boat built on purpose was placed in the
fountain and boy rowed around it and
filled the cups of the people who came
there to be supplied. Well, you say, that
was luxurious entertainment, and of
course the man had no anxiety; but have
to tell you that, though you had or pro-
pose an entertainment like that, you have
anxiety. In the very thing comes the divine
reward. We we're born to serve, and when
we serve others, we serve God. The flush
on that woman's cheek, as she bends over
as the flush on the cheek of one who, on q
hot day, breaches the Gospel. We may
serve God with plate, and cutlery, and
broom, as certainly as we can serve him
with psalm book and liturgy. Margaret,
queen of Norway, and Sweden, and Dem
mark, had a royal cup of ten lips, on which
were recorded the names of the guests who
had drank from this cup. And every
Christian woman has royal cup, on which
are Written all the names of those who have
ever been entertained by her in Christian
style--names not cut by human ingenuity,
but written by the hand of divine Jesus.
But, my frlends, you are not TO toll I'M.
necessarily. Though the fare be plain,
cheerful presidency of the table, and clean
illness of appointments will be good enough
for anybody that ever comes to your house.
John Howard was invited to the house of
q nobleman. He said: II will come on one
condition, and that is that you have Moth
ing but potatoes on the table," The re-
QUESTION was complied with. Cyrus, King
of Persia, under the same circumstances,
prescribed that on the table there must be
nothing but bread. OF course, these were
extremes, but they are illustrations of the
fact that more depends upon the banquet
ers than upon the banquet. want to lift
this idea of Christian entertainment out of
positive bondage into glorious induce
ment. Every effort you put forth, and
every dollar you give 10 the entertainment
of friend or foe, you give directly to Christ.
Suppose it were announced that the Lord
Jesus Christ would come to this place this
week, what woman in this house would not
be glad to wash for Him, or spread for
Him bed, or bake bread for Him? There
was one of old who washed for Him, draw
ing the water from the we'll of her own
tears. He is coming. He will be here to-
morrow. "Inasmuch as ye have done it
to one of the least of these, my brethren,
ye have done it to me-" In picture CALLER
les We have often seen representations of
Walfo,. Scott or1 his frian6a or Wos 10.